sermon: Do You Recognize This Man? (Part 4)
Producing Fruit
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Given 23-May-10; Sermon #994A; 75 minutes
Description: (hide)
Richard Ritenbaugh, reminding us that a good peach crop does not appear without effort, indicates that all phases of the peach growing process require intense labor and tender loving care, including watering, grafting, pruning, applying fertilizer, nutrients, and pesticides, as well as thinning them out. Whether we refer to physical or spiritual fruit, serious care must be exercised to ensure a bountiful crop. The firstfruits require a sin offering and a wave offering, symbolizing Christ’s sacrifice which covers the leavening of our sin. The two wave loaves symbolize the church, which will become Christ’s Bride at the Resurrection. The firstfruits are of the highest quality, representative of harvests to come. God sanctifies us in order to produce fruit; we are required to produce fruit that is permanent and will never perish. Fruit is a product of growth requiring knowledge, work, patience, truth (light) and water (God’s Holy Spirit). If our heart is good, we will produce good fruit; if our heart is bad, we will produce bad fruit. If we fail to produce fruit, we will be rooted out permanently. Jesus demands production, with loyalty, honor, praise, and righteousness. Only by staying connected in the vine and submitting to pruning are we able to bear fruit. Scripture provides the means by which we are cleansed, chastened, and made ready to bear fruit. The fruit that God wants us to produce godly character: to be made into the image of Jesus Christ.
Topics: (show)
Apple tree Asian farmers Central trunk Colossians 1:9-10 Cursing the tree Day of the firstfruits Exodus 23:14-16 Feast of Tabernacles Feast of Weeks Fruits of the Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Self-control Firstfruits Galatians 5:16 “Gentle Jesus meek and mild” Grafting Hebrews 4:12-13 James 1:18 John 15:1-16 Laodicean Leviticus 23:15-21 Luke 6:43-45; 13:6-9 Lukewarm water Miracle-Gro Plant Food, Soil & Organics - Scotts Miracle-Gro Moving the tree New Unger’s Bible Dictionary Non-productive tree Numbers 28:26 Our responsibility to produce fruit Peach orchard Peaches Pentecost Producing fruit Producing no fruit Revelation 3:15; 14:1-4 Root disease Root system Sanctification process Seed Suckers Spiritual nakedness Trials Tug of war Two wave loaves
|
(To download, right-click on the icon for the format of your choice and select "Save target as...") |
The transcript for this audio message is not available yet.
If you would like to be notified when this transcript is available, please enter your email address in the space below and click the button.